(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to security monitoring and response delivery, and, more particularly, to monitoring a user at their request and transmitting information or an alert to the user and/or a request for appropriate assistance or emergency services to service providers.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Recent methodologies for providing monitoring and response such as requesting emergency services and other assistance include, for example, commercial monitoring services that require operation from a fixed location, such as a residence or business location, and require that the customer initiate a request for service or assistance. Other services operate on a mobile basis, such as roadside assistance provided by automobile clubs, emergency services operated by local governments, commercial providers and the like, but these also require that the customer initiate a service request.
Requests for response, services or assistance may be made verbally, for example, by making a 911 telephone call and orally describing the nature of the service or assistance requested, the situation or events that led to the need, and the precise geospatial location, e.g., the street address, where the services or assistance is needed. Requests for services or assistance alternately may be made physically, for example, by the customer pressing a panic button or making certain keystrokes on a mobile wireless communication device to a monitoring center, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,514 to Jill Christine Wheeler titled “Mobile Personal Security Monitoring Service”. Such initiation by the customer or other interaction with the customer may be limited in some situations and impossible in other more extreme situations.
Techniques for automatically requesting monitoring and response, such as personal assistance and rendering emergency services, have been developed which use, for example, a sensor to generate a signal which is transmitted as a request for assistance and emergency service without requiring initiation by the user. For example, vehicle monitoring services are available that will transmit a request for assistance to a monitoring center when a sensor detects that the airbags on the vehicle have deployed. In homes or places of business, other monitoring systems are available which trigger the transmission of a request based on certain signals from a user device installed at a fixed location when one or more sensors attached to the user device are triggered. Such systems are based on simple decision logic because the decision logic applied to trigger the request is a single binary, i.e., yes/no, logic. As used herein, “binary logic” is intended to mean “yes”/“no” logic and “single” is intended to mean one application of binary logic. Thus, as used herein, “single binary logic decisions” in monitoring systems means the application of one yes or no decision to the operation of the monitoring and response delivery system. If yes, then the monitoring system operates and monitoring occurs, if no, then monitoring does not occur. In the automobile example cited above, a single yes/no decision is used to trigger the operation of the monitoring system, based on whether the airbags have deployed, yes, or the airbags have not deployed, no. In homes or places of business, other single binary logic systems are available which would decide whether or not to transmit a request for monitoring or assistance based on the receipt of a signal from a user device installed at a fixed location when one or more sensors, such as a physical orientation sensor or a blood pressure sensor attached to the user device, or sensors that detect door openings or motion are triggered In these systems, if the sensor dos not trigger, a no decision is made, and no request is made, and the existence of a trigger from the sensor, is a yes and means a request will be made, This request will be made on the basis of this single yes/no decision; without the requirement for additional analysis, logic or intelligence to be brought to bear in producing an appropriate request, and transmitting it to the appropriate assistance or emergency service provider.
Certain state of the art home and business monitoring systems apply a dual binary logic to the operation of the monitoring system itself. As used herein, “dual” is intended to mean two serial applications of binary logic. Thus, a “dual binary logic decision system” means the application of two “yes” or “no” decisions to the operation of the monitoring and response delivery system. If a “yes” occurs in the first decision, and a “yes” occurs in the second decision, then the monitoring system is set into action and monitoring or response occurs. If a “yes” occurs in the first decision, and a “no” occurs in the second decision, then monitoring or response does not occur. If a “no” occurs in the first decision, then monitoring or response does not occur.
In a dual binary decision logic monitoring system, certain signals and data, such as from a camera, are transmitted only when the signal changes from its base state which is the first application of binary logic, during a certain time period, which is the second application. For example, such a system would transmit camera images only when any image was detected that was different from the base image, the first yes decision and only when the time was in a certain range, the second yes decision. In this manner, a monitoring system that contains a camera aimed at the parking lot entrance to a business could be set to transmit images from the camera only when the camera image of the entrance contained images other than that of the bare entrance and the business was not in operation.
Other systems can apply single and dual binary logic to the capture and recording of monitoring results, such as current state of the art systems where wireless and Internet Web service providers are using the Internet to currently provide monitoring services that will, with the concurrence of the monitored user, employ a single binary decision logic to provide on the Internet to authorized persons a listing of the previous and current locations of the monitored user's wireless device. Under dual binary logic, these locations will only be captured and recorded if the device has been in certain locations or is present in certain locations, i.e., the first yes decision, and has been or is present at certain locations at a pre-determined time schedule, i.e., the second yes decision.
Thus, a technique for operating and providing monitoring services, and producing and transmitting information and alerts to the user and requests for response delivery to potential service providers that will apply advanced logic and decision making techniques that employ decision making logic higher than dual binary logic, is needed to augment and substitute for human processing and it is an object of the present invention to provide the same.
Additionally, it is well known that public health and safety emergency services, even after receiving a request for services and interacting with the requester physically or orally in an appropriate manner, may have issues with the timely and geographically accurate provision of services, or with accurately providing appropriate services based on the interpretation of the situation and condition of the requester. Thus, a technique for requesting emergency assistance is needed that will provide all public and private assistance and emergency service providers with a record of the situation and events involving the requester prior to and including the events that triggered the request that can be analyzed in order to determine the appropriate course of action, and it is a further object of the present invention to provide the same. Such a record would be useful to the user, the requestor and/or their representatives in an investigation of the situation or the response to the situation that resulted in the transmission of a request. Similarly, such a record can also be used to enhance the effectiveness of future investigations into the situation, including identification, and criminal and civil prosecution of those involved in the situation, as well as providing evidence for such investigation and prosecution.
The public record is replete with examples of situations where the transmission and receipt of a request for public health and safety services, and the delivery of such services to the requestor are problematic. For example, the public system may not have on hand the resources to receive all of the requests transmitted, as happened recently in a Massachusetts blizzard where the E911 system did not receive or respond to thousands of mobile emergency calls due to in-bound capacity issues. Issues may exist with the dispatch of assistance or services to the requestor due to budgetary constraints on the number of service providers or responders, or the existence of prior requests for service in the same locality or other areas. Thus, a technique for delivering assistance and emergency services that is not solely reliant on the public health and safety response system is needed and it is yet another object of the present invention to provide the same. Such a technique would allow volunteers, i.e., Good Samaritans, as well as private, commercial entities engaged in the provision of assistance and emergency services to attempt to assist the requestor in a timely and appropriate manner